“What if the culprit is not found? Or what if he has taken his life rather than chance being caught?” Adara asked.
“I will see this done, wife. There is no need for worry.”
Her husband’s confidence helped, but there was another worry. “This is a secret mission for King James?”
“Aye it is. His reign goes good and he needs no stain on it,” Warrick confirmed.
“Once you find this man and see your mission done, what is to stop the King from seeing you dead since you know this secret?”
“You have a quick mind, wife,” he said. “I believe I am more valuable to the King alive than dead. Besides, if he feared me knowing too much about him, I would be dead already.”
“What of the true king? Would you not want to see him take the throne?”
Warrick’s own words surprised him. “I grow tired of war and it would take a war to see this man sit the throne. Good men, women, and children would die, and who is to say this person is the true heir to the throne? And if he is, is he capable of ruling or will he be nothing more than a puppet king? Then what of those who rule him? Do they care for the people or only of wealth and power?”
“What if he is a good man?”
“You do not want to know the answer to that, wife,” he warned and walked over to crouch down in front of her. “You have seen for yourself since you were young how cruel and uncaring people can be. I do what I must to protect my clan and keep them safe and I make no excuse for it. You will always be safe with me, Adara. I will do whatever it takes to make sure of it.”
Adara leaned forward in the chair, her hand going to rest against her husband’s warm cheek. “I never realized how much you sacrifice for others.”
“A great warrior leader does not sacrifice, he does what he must.”
Adara knew the words were not his own. “A lesson your father taught you?”
“One lesson that has served me well.”
Adara turned a soft smile on him and leaned forward to brush a feather-like kiss to his lips. “I love you, husband. You are a good man.” She kissed him again when he went to speak, sensing he would deny her claim. “Do not waste your words, nothing will change how I feel about you.”
“Foolish woman,” he scolded with a smile.
“Aye, that I am, husband,” she said proudly. “Now go and do what you must. I am going to sit here and enjoy the warmth of the fire and my hot brew.”
“I will have Wynn see that food is brought to you,” Warrick said as he stood, then he kissed her brow.
“You will tell me about anything you find?” she asked.
“Aye, I will,” he said and was gone.
Adara settled back in the chair, closing her eyes. There was something about the dead man that disturbed her. She allowed herself to recall the gruesome scene. What was it that she had seen that nagged at her? She could not place it no matter how hard she tried.
The servants further disturbed her thoughts when they entered the room and it was when one of the servants stepped in front of her to place a tray of food on the small table beside the chair that Adara realized what she had been trying so hard to recall.
She jumped up out of the chair, the blanket falling to the floor and ran from the room.
“What do you mean the tracker has found no tracks?” Warrick demanded, approaching the shed where Ronald had been taken.
“The only tracks he found leading to the keep were Ronald’s and there were none leading away from the keep,” Roark explained. “Though, the snowfall is light, it does not help.”
“Have the men spotted anyone in the area?”
“Not a soul or a sign of one so far,” Roark said, “and Ronald was still warm, the blood still flowing from him. The culprit should have been spotted by now. The men are spread out across the land. There was no way he could have slipped past them.”
Warrick said what was obvious. “Which means the person is here in the village. The question is… was Ronald followed or did his search lead him here to the village? Something else has troubled me while searching for this apparent heir. Where is the support for this true king? Where are the warriors who would fight for him?”
“Perhaps many do not believe his claim,” Roark suggested.
“Whatever the reason, it also helps keep his secret. Our only recourse is to find the man who killed Ronald and that should prove easy since he hides here among us.”
The mourn of a distant horn caught both men’s attention and had them taking quick steps to the front of the village.
The sound of the horn stopped Adara, forcing her to delay her search. She kept to the keep stairs, watching out over the village as many of the men wandered toward the front of the village while some remained behind, weapons in hand.
Callie hurried up the stairs to stand beside Adara. “Riders approach fast and strong.”
Adara felt Callie tremble, the young woman having taken her hand.
“No attack bell sounds,” Adara said, attempting to reassure her.
“No, but that does not mean that an attack does not take place elsewhere, which would mean my Roark would be sent off to handle it.”
Warrick could go as well and the bairn’s birth was not far off. Not that Adara needed Warrick to be there, though she preferred he was so that he could see the new bairn as soon as he was born.
“Perhaps it is nothing,” Adara said, hoping to ease both of their concerns.
Adara’s words proved wrong as soon as she caught sight of her husband walking toward her. His jaw was set tight, his brow deeply wrinkled, and his eyes sparking with anger.
“The damn fools pay me no heed. This time they will learn and quickly,” Warrick said his declaration meant more for himself than those around him.
Adara went down the stairs to meet him.
Warrick took hold of her arm and hurried her back up the stairs and looked to Callie. “Go to your husband. We leave for battle.”
Callie let out a cry and ran off.
Once in the Great Hall, Warrick took his wife in his arms. “The MacNair Clan are at it again and this time I am going to dispose of their nonsense quickly.” He placed his hand on his wife’s rounded stomach, spreading his fingers to feel as much of the bairn as he could.” “I will be here for his birth.” The bairn gave his da a good kick.
Adara smiled. “He is pleased to hear that.” Her smile faded. “It is not that I need you here for me to give birth. It is that I would like you here. You give me strength.” Her smile returned as she laid her hand over her husband’s. “I may need more than I first thought since he is a determined one.”
“I will be gone a day at the most. I will end this quick and the MacNair Clan will trouble me no more.” He brushed his lips over hers. “I am glad Cyra did not return home and that Innis joined her here. Between a healer of old and a physician, I feel you will do well, and you will not be able to keep Espy away.”
“I am pleased they will be here to help me, but—”
“I will be here, Adara, you have my word.” He kissed her again and held her close.
She eased out of his arms. “The sooner you go, the sooner you will return to me.”
“I love you, wife,” he said and hurried away, his anger mounting that he was being forced to leave his wife when she needed him. He intended to make the MacNair Clan suffer for it.
Callie came running into the Great Hall shortly after Warrick left, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I warned my brother to bring my husband home safely. I will not be left a widow with a child on the way.”
Adara recalled the joy on Callie’s face when she told all that she was with child. She wore an endless smile until today.
“Warrick says he will be done fast with it. They will return soon and all will be well.”
“I pray it will be so,” Callie said.
It was not until later in the day when Callie returned to her cottage to nap that Adara got a chance to pursue her search. When she had looked upon one of
the servant’s hems, she had realized what had plagued her about the dead man. She had spotted a scrap of cloth on a bush not far from his body. It was the plain brown wool cloth the servants wore, but it was faded, which meant it was worn by a servant that had served many years here in the keep.”
Adara went in search of Wynn, planning on asking her who, of the servants, wore the old faded garments. She found her in Warrick’s solar, directing two servants. She smiled at the way Wynn admonished the young lasses for not doing their task correctly.
As Adara watched her demonstrate how to sweep the hearth thoroughly clean of ashes, her eyes caught the hem of her underdress and saw that it had been torn, a section missing. Her hand went to her stomach as an anxious flutter hit it.
“Wynn,” Adara called out. “A word please.”
Wynn nodded with a smile and ushered the lasses out with the bucket of ashes. After she shut the door behind them, Wynn turned to Adara. “What can I do for you, my lady?”
“You can tell me what you were doing in the woods with the man that was found dead.”
Chapter 31
Adara sat by the fire in her bedchamber. It had been a long day with much happening. Espy had arrived by mid-afternoon, wanting to make certain she was there when Adara’s time came. Callie had spent a good part of the evening talking with her and it was not until later when everyone began to retire that Espy had approached her.
“Something weighs heavily on your mind. Are you fearful of giving birth?” Espy had asked.
Adara had made excuse after excuse, but in the end she was sure Espy did not believe a one of them. Espy had been right about one thing… something weighed heavily on her mind.
Wynn had shocked her with what she had told her and she was still trying to digest it. She did not believe it possible and yet it had answered so many questions and had all made sense. After all these years, she had answers and yet those answers disturbed her more than she ever imagined possible.
She was relieved that Warrick was not there. She did not know how she would keep this from him, but she had no choice. She could not tell him. Not ever.
The night grew late, but Adara did not seek her bed. Sleep would not be something she would get tonight, and though she ached for her husband’s return, she hoped it would be delayed at least a day. It would give her the time to… she wiped at the tear that threatened to fall.
How she would ever keep this from her husband, she did not know.
The door suddenly flung open and Adara jumped out of the chair, the blanket that had been wrapped around her falling to the floor.
Warrick stood there, his breathing harsh, his hand gripping the door handle, his knuckles scraped and bruised from battle. His dark eyes raged with the aftermath of battle and need… need for his wife.
Adara saw how he wrestled with his intense desire, her rounded stomach reminding him of the bairn, and knowing it was not a gentle lovemaking he wanted. But then Adara had a need to forget everything she had learned if only for a while, and she had a desperate need to feel loved, and her husband could give her that.
She stretched her arms out to him.
Warrick hesitated, his passion strong, and he feared his raging desire might bring harm to his wife and the bairn. He growled low in his chest, a warning to himself that he should leave, then his wife pulled her garment off and extended her arms once more.
Her invitation was too much to deny. He swung the door shut behind him and stripped off his garments as he walked toward her. He stopped a distance from her and warned, “I have no gentleness in me this night.”
“Do you love me, husband?”
“More than you will ever know.”
Adara stepped toward him and Warrick reached out and yanked her into his arms. His kiss was not gentle. It demanded with a hunger that Adara quickly fed. She was in his arms before she knew it, his lips refusing to leave hers as he walked them to the bed.
He lowered her next to the bed, but held her high enough off the floor so that he could tease her one nipple with his tongue before taking it in his mouth to nip at it.
Adara moaned, her hands going to grip her husband’s arms taut with muscles. She dropped her head back when his tongue and mouth moved to her other breast, and when his lips moved to kiss her lips again, it stole her breath.
She barely caught her breath when he lowered her to her feet, spun her around, and bent her over the bed. She had little time to brace her hands on the bed when he thrust his hand between her legs to tease the small nub until it throbbed unmercifully. When she cried out from the pleasure building in her, his manhood drove into her hard and fast.
He gripped her backside as he pounded against her, a feral growl rumbling from him as he did. He needed her, he needed to bury himself deep inside her, feel her cocoon around him, hold him tight, know she loved him.
Adara’s moans grew as did his growl and when she screamed out his name as she climaxed, he let loose with a roar, his own climax exploding with a fury.
Warrick dropped over her, his hands landing beside her own as she kept herself braced on the bed, her round stomach faintly brushing the bedding. She shuddered as the climax rippled through, enjoying every last ripple and she squeezed tight, keeping him inside her for a while longer.
He shuddered and groaned as he felt her clamp around him and he nipped at her shoulder, causing another shudder to run through her.
Adara wanted nothing more than to remain like this for a while, him buried deep inside her, feeling as if they were joined together as one. But with her breathing heavy, her arms growing tired, even though Warrick kept most of his weight off her, she did not know how long she could hold herself up.
She need not have worried, Warrick’s arm slipped around her just below her breasts and he eased her down with him on the bed for her to rest back against him.
“I am too heavy against you,” she warned, hearing his breathing rapid in her ear.
“You weigh little and it does not matter, for I would die an extremely satisfied and happy man right now.”
“Do not say such a thing,” Adara scolded as she struggled to get off him.
His arm tightened around her. “Still yourself, wife. You are not going anywhere. I rode hard to get home to you tonight and you will not be leaving my side.”
She shivered, a chill rushing over her, her body having lost the heat of their lovemaking, and turning her skin to gooseflesh.
“Damn,” Warrick muttered and eased his wife up on the bed, to rest her head on the pillows and hurrying her legs beneath the blanket. He pulled himself up beside her to tuck the blankets around both of them after settling her against him.
The bairn gave her a hard kick just as she cuddled against her husband and she let out a soft yelp and laid her hand on her stomach.
Warrick muttered several oaths, his hand going to slip under hers and caress the bairn that kept moving around and poking his mum.
“I should not have touched you,” Warrick said, guilt stirring in him for causing her and the protesting bairn discomfort.
“You did nothing to disturb him. He has been busy on his own,” she assured him. “Besides, he should know how much we love each other and know he will be loved as well.”
The bairn moved again but more slowly as if his mum’s words brought him comfort.
Adara could still feel the tension in her husband and hoped to ease it. “Espy is here.”
“I am pleased to know that.”
Adara smiled, feeling the tension in his body begin to wash away. “And with Cyra and Innis here there is nothing to worry about. Now tell me how things went with you.”
“The MacNair Clan will trouble me no more. I left Benet and a troop of warriors to see to my orders. The fools lost far too many of their own and for no good reason. Now they are under my rule.”
“Roark returned with you?”
“I would know no peace from Callie if I had left her husband behind.”
Adara laughed softly
. “You love your sister.”
“She is a pest,” Warrick argued.
“A pest you love,” Adara said on a yawn.
“You need to sleep, wife.”
Another yawn followed. “I believe I do, but not before I tell you how very much I love you. No matter what, Warrick, I love you.”
“And I love you, wife,” Warrick said puzzled and a bit disturbed by her last few words.
No matter what.
The morning meal was a festive one with Warrick having returned victorious and though everyone was enjoying themselves, he could tell something troubled his wife. She smiled and talked with everyone and yet her thoughts seemed far off and he had noticed her gait was slower today as if something weighed heavily on her. It troubled him and he intended to speak to her about it when the meal was finished. Though he asked again as he had done twice before, “Are you sure you are feeling well?”
“A bit tired, that is all,” she assured him.
“You should rest after the meal is done.”
“My intentions,” she said with a smile.
He knew his wife’s smile well and the smile she had turned on him had been a forced one. Something was wrong and he intended to find out as soon as possible. Unfortunately, that was delayed, a message from Benet needing his attention.
He and Roark left the others, though not before ordering his wife once again to rest and for all to hear. He was glad to hear Espy question his wife as he took his leave.
Highlander The Demon Lord (Highland Warriors Trilogy Book 3) Page 28
